Retention of documents taken under regulation 66 or 70
71.—(1) Any material possession of which is taken in accordance with a requirement under regulation 66 or under a warrant issued under regulation 70 (“seized material”) may be retained for so long as it is necessary to retain it (rather than copies of it) in connection with the exercise of the functions of the supervisory authority under these Regulations for the purposes of which any requirement was imposed or the warrant was issued.
(2) If a duly authorised officer (within the meaning of regulation 70(13)) has reasonable grounds for suspecting that—
(a)the seized material may need to be produced for the purposes of legal proceedings; and
(b)it might otherwise be unavailable for those purposes,
it may be retained until the proceedings are concluded.
(3) A person claiming to be the owner of any seized material may apply to the Crown Court or (in Scotland) the sheriff or the summary sheriff for an order for the delivery of the material to the person appearing to the court, the sheriff or the summary sheriff to be the owner.
(4) If on an application under paragraph (3), the court or (in Scotland) the sheriff or the summary sheriff cannot ascertain who is the owner of the seized material the court, the sheriff or the summary sheriff may make such order as the court, the sheriff or the summary sheriff thinks fit.
(5) An order under paragraph (3) or (4) does not affect the right of any person to take legal proceedings against any person in possession of seized material for the recovery of the material.